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Regulating the reaction pathway of a hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalyst to achieve ultradeep desulfurization of diesel is a low-energy-consumption yet effective strategy but remains a tricky challenge. Herein, we present a Ni2P/Al2O3catalyst with mesoporous properties synthesized by a facile hydrothermal-temperature-programmed reduction and normal impregnation (TPRI) method, and then different precious metals with similar loadings were introduced to prepare M–Ni2P/Al2O3(M = Pt, Pd) catalysts through incipient wetness impregnation. Their structures were analyzed by a series of characterization methods, and their catalytic performances were examined for 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT) HDS. The correlation characterization results revealed that the kind of precious metals significantly affected the surface acidity and then the metal–support interaction (MSI) between Ni2P and Al2O3. Among them, the Pt–Ni2P/Al2O3catalyst exhibits superior HDS activity with 88.5% 4,6-DMDBT conversion to Pd–Ni2P/Al2O3(76.3%) and pristine Ni2P/Al2O3(58.6%) catalysts under reaction conditions of 3.4 MPa, 340 °C, and LHSV = 4.8 h–1. This should be due to the introduction of Pt, which significantly facilitates the dissociation rate of H2and the subsequent generation of more active hydrogen species than Pd, thereby promoting the formation of Brønsted acid sites, remarkably facilitating the isomerization (ISO) pathway, and markedly enhancing the 4,6-DMDBT HDS conversion of Pt–Ni2P/Al2O3. This work provides an efficient protocol to tame the reaction pathway and thereafter the catalytic performance of the HDS catalyst in the future.

Early childhood caries (ECC) is a public healthcare concern that greatly reduces the quality of life of young children. As a leading factor of ECC, cariogenic biofilms are composed of acidogenic/aciduric pathogens and extracellular polysaccharides (EPSs), creating an acidic and protected microenvironment. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) is a noninvasive, painless, and efficient therapeutic approach that is suitable for treating ECC. However, due to the hyperfine structure of cariogenic biofilms, most photosensitizers (PSs) could not access and penetrate deeply in biofilms, which dramatically hamper their efficiency in the clinic. Herein, bioresponsive nanoparticle loaded with chlorin e6 (MPP-Ce6) is developed, which largely increases the penetration depth (by over 75%) and retention (by over 100%) of PS in the biofilm compared with free Ce6. Furthermore, MPP-Ce6-mediated aPDT not only kills the bacteria in preformed biofilms but also inhibits multispecies biofilm formation. A rampant caries model is established to mimic ECC in vivo, where the population of cariogenic bacteria is decreased to 10% after MPP-Ce6-mediated aPDT. Importantly, the number and severity of carious lesions are efficiently reduced viaKeyes’ scoring and micro-CT analysis. This simple but effective strategy can serve as a promising approach for daily oral hygiene in preventing ECC.

China National Petroleum Corporation collaborated with researchers from the University of California and Tsinghua University to develop software for planning its natural gas pipelines. The work resulted in increased profits of $530 million between 2015 and 2017 and a budget reduction of more than $20 billion in construction costs for the subsequent five years.

Enabling materials with distinct features toward achieving high-performance energy storage devices is of huge importance but highly challenging. Commercial carbon cloth (CC), because of its appealing chemical and mechanical properties, has been proven to be an excellent conductive substrate for active electrode materials. However, its performance is notably poor when directly used as an electrode in energy storage, due to its low theoretical capacity and surface area. Herein, we successfully endow the CC with enhanced storage capacity via formation of a π–π stacking interaction by integrating electrochemically activated CC (denoted CC/ACC) with biomass-derived carbon (BMDC) (denoted π-CC/ECC@BMDC). The π-CC/ECC@BMDC electrode displays excellent storage performance with a high capacity of 2.53 mAh cm–2under 0.2 mA cm–2when used as anode material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Due to the induction energy, the negatively charged molecules of the CC/ACC functional groups interact with the BMDC during carbonization, creating the π–π stacking interaction. Based on first-principles calculations, the structural design of the tri-layer carbon enables the movement of electrons around the π–π stacking interaction, which significantly facilitates rapid transportation of electrons, creates three-dimensional (3D) ion tunnels for fast transportation of ions, and improves the electrode’s mechanical and electronic properties.